Innovative heavy crude conversion/upgrading process configuration

ABSTRACT

The described invention discloses an innovative solvent deasphalter and hydroconversion-processing configuration for converting bitumen or heavy oils to produce a transportable synthetic crude oil (SCO). The innovative processing scheme disclosed herein maximizes the synthetic crude oil yield at a minimal investment compared to currently known methods.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is an innovative hydroconversion processing configurationfor converting bitumen or heavy oils and producing finished productsand/or synthetic crude oil (SCO). The novel process configuration isself-sufficient for the required hydrogen and there is no heavyunconverted residue or coke product to dispose of using the disclosedprocess.

The invention results in a high yield of specification SCO which willnot contain any undesirable asphaltenes, no undesirable bottoms or cokeproduct, and is accomplished with minimal investment and operatingcosts. SCO is the output from a bitumen/extra heavy oil upgraderfacility used in connection with oil sand production. It is also theoutput from an oil shale extraction. The properties of the SCO depend toa large extent on the processes used in the upgrading. High quality SCOis typically low in sulfur, has an API gravity in the range of 32-38°and is also known as “upgraded crude”.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The world's higher quality light natural crude oils are those generallyhaving an API gravity of 35 to 45° with sulfur content less than 0.5percent. These high quality light natural crudes cost the least torefine into a variety of highest value end products includingpetrochemicals and therefore command a price premium. More importantly,however, the majority of world refinery capacity is geared to a highproportion of light natural crude oils with an API gravity ofapproximately 38° or higher.

It is generally accepted that world supplies of light crude oilsrecoverable by the conventional means of drilling wells into reservoirsand the use of nature's pressure, or by pumping to recover the oil, willbe diminished to the extent that in the coming decades these supplieswill no longer be capable of meeting the world demand.

To find relief from oil supply shortage it will be necessary tosubstantially increase processing of the vast world reserves of coal andviscous oil, bitumens in tar sands and kerogens in oil shale. Thesesources of crude oil remain largely unexploited today although recoveryof oil from tar sands is in practice in Canada. The development oftechnology for the production of synthetic oil as an alternative to thelight crude oil found in nature continues to be plagued by the largecapital investments required in recovery and production facilities and along wait for return on investment. In addition, large expenditures arerequired to construct or retrofit refineries for synthetic oilsrecovered from heavy oils and bitumens. In addition, present syntheticoil plants for processing heavy oils, or bitumens from tar sands, havefocused more on the development of systems for recovery and productionthan on energy efficiency, maximization of yield, and high environmentalprocessing standards. Except for South Africa's Sasol process, whichbenefits from low cost labor used in coal mining, coal liquefaction isnot yet cost competitive with synthetic oil produced from tar sandsbitumen or heavy oils.

It is therefore of considerable importance that ways are found toproduce light synthetic crudes comparable in quality to the rapidlydepleting reserves of light natural crudes available from conventionalsources and at a cost at least approaching these crudes and fullycompetitive with the crudes being recovered at higher cost from underthe sea or from frontier areas such as the extreme north with itsrigorous climate. It is also important that light synthetic crudes arecomprised in desired proportions of a mixture of aromatic, naphthenicand paraffinic components as these three families of compounds compriseessential feedstock to refinery capacity producing today'stransportation fuels and feedstocks for the petrochemical industry.

Accordingly, applicants have disclosed an invention which is aninnovative processing configuration for converting these heavy oilsand/or bitumens to produce a transportable SCO. In the invention, theheavy oil or bitumen feedstock is processed with no net bottoms product(residue, coke), thereby eliminating a potential disposal problem.Moreover, the configuration maximizes liquid yield and balances thehydrogen requirements utilizing the gasification of residue products.

In this invention, the heavy oil or bitumen feedstock is initiallyfractionated in a combination of crude and vacuum stills to produce astraight-run atmospheric gas oil (AGO) feedstream, an atmosphericresidue feedstream, straight run vacuum gas oil (VGO) feedstream and avacuum residue feedstream. Typically, the heavy oil or bitumen is highlyviscous and is diluted with light oil in order to be transported fromthe field. This light oil is distilled in the crude atmospheric stilland is returned to the field. ‘A portion of the vacuum residuefeedstream is thereafter fed to a first high-pressure, ebullated-bedreactor system along with hydrogen from a downstream hydrogen plant tocreate distillate, VGO, and unconverted vacuum residue streams. The VGOand distillate streams from the ebullated-bed reactor system arethereafter combined with the straight-run AGO and VGO streams from thecrude and vacuum stills and sent to traditional fixed-bed hydrotreatingand hydrocracking units.

The unconverted vacuum residue is combined with the portion of thevacuum residue from the crude vacuum still that was not sent to thefirst ebullated-bed reactor system and sent to a solvent deasphaltingunit (SDA). The SDA unit produces a deasphalted oil (DAO) stream and anasphaltene stream. The DAO stream is processed along with a hydrogenstream in a second, lower pressure, ebullated-bed reactor system whichoperates at high severity and converts in excess of eighty-five (85%)percent of the DAO into distillates and VGO. These distillate and VGOproducts are thereafter blended with the products from the fixed-bedhydrotreating and hydrocracking reactors to create a synthetic crude oil(SCO). The small fraction of DAO that is not converted in the secondebullated-bed reactor is thereafter routed to a gasification plant orcan be blended into the final SCO product.

The asphaltene stream from the SDA unit and the small quantity ofunconverted DAO from the second ebullated-bed reactor system are sent tothe gasification plant to produce the required hydrogen for the twoebullated-bed reactor systems and the secondaryhydrotreating/hydrocracking units.

These and other features of the present invention will be more readilyapparent from the following description with reference to theaccompanying drawing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the invention is to provide an innovative processingconfiguration for maximizing liquid SCO yield and balancing hydrogenrequirements utilizing gasification of residues produced from theprocess.

Another objective of the invention to allow the processing of bitumen orheavy oil with no net bottoms product (residue, coke), which can presenta disposal problem.

It is a further objective of the present invention to utilize maximumsize and throughput ebullated-bed reactor systems for the vacuum residueand DAO processing as well as for the SDA and gasification plants toprovide maximum total heavy oil or bitumen feedrate and maximumresulting SCO production.

It is another objective of the invention to utilize lower pressureebullated-bed hydroconversion to enable high conversion of the DAO fordirect blending of the second ebullated-bed products into the final SCOproduct.

In this invention, the heavy oil or bitumen feedstock is initiallyfractionated in a combination of crude and vacuum stills to producelight diluent, straight-run atmospheric gas oil (AGO) feedstream, anatmospheric residue feedstream, straight run vacuum gas oil (VGO)feedstream and a vacuum residue feedstream. The light diluent, used totransport the heavy oil or bitumen, is returned to the field. A largeportion of the vacuum residue feedstream is thereafter fed to a firstebullated-bed reactor unit along with hydrogen from a downstreamhydrogen plant to create distillate, VGO, and unconverted vacuum residuestreams. The VGO and distillate streams from the ebullated bed reactorsystem are thereafter combined with the straight-run AGO and VGO streamsfrom the vacuum and crude stills and sent to traditional fixed-bedhydrotreating and hydrocracking units for further refinement.

The unconverted vacuum residue from the ebullated-bed system is combinedwith the portion of the vacuum residue from the vacuum still that wasnot sent to the first ebullated-bed reactor and sent to a solventdeasphalting unit (SDA). The SDA produces a deasphalted oil (DAO) streamand an asphaltene stream. The DAO stream is processed along with ahydrogen stream in a second, lower pressure ebullated-bed reactor systemwhich operates at high severity and converts in excess of eighty-five(85%) percent of the DAO into distillates and VGO. These distillate andVGO products do not require secondary hydrotreatment and are thereafterblended with the products from the fixed-bed hydrotreating andhydrocracking reactors to create a synthetic crude oil (SCO). The smallquantity of DAO that is not converted in the second ebullated-bedreactor system is thereafter routed to a gasification plant or can beblended into the final SCO product.

The asphaltene stream from the SDA unit and optionally the unconvertedDAO from the second ebullated-bed reactor system are sent to thegasification plant to produce the required hydrogen for the twoebullated-bed units and the secondary hydrotreating/hydrocracking units.The primary variable for insuring that the required quantity of hydrogenis produced in the gasification plant is the fraction of the vacuumresidue which bypasses the first ebullated-bed reactor system.

More particularly, the present invention describes a process forconverting high percentages of heavy oil or bitumen feedstocks andproducing a high yield of SCO comprising:

-   -   a) feeding a bitumen or heavy oil feedstock to a crude still        passing to provide a light diluent, a straight run atmospheric        residue stream and a straight run atmospheric gas oil stream;        and    -   b) feeding said straight run atmospheric residue stream to a        vacuum still to create a straight run vacuum residue stream and        a straight run vacuum gas oil stream; and    -   c) feeding a portion of the straight run vacuum residue stream        and a hydrogen stream to a first ebullated-bed reactor system to        hydrocrack the vacuum residue and create an unconverted residue        stream and a distillate and vacuum gas oil stream; and    -   d) feeding said unconverted vacuum residue stream and the        straight run vacuum residue that was not processed in said first        ebullated-bed reactor system to a C₃ or heavier solvent        deasphalting unit to create a deasphalted oil stream and an        asphaltene stream; and    -   e) feeding said deasphalted oil stream and a hydrogen stream to        a second ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocrack the        deasphalted oil and create a distillate stream, a vacuum gas oil        stream, and an unconverted deasphalted oil stream; and    -   f) feeding said distillate and vacuum gas oil stream from said        first ebullated-bed reactor system from step d), along with said        straight run vacuum gas oil stream and said straight run        atmospheric gas oil stream and a hydrogen stream to a series of        hydrotreatment and hydrocracking reactors to create a        hydrotreated C₅ ⁺ product; and    -   g) blending said hydrotreated C₅ ⁺ product from step f), said        distillate stream and said vacuum gas oil stream from step e) to        create a synthetic crude oil: and    -   h) feeding said asphaltene stream from step d) plus said        unconverted DAO stream from step e) to a gasification complex to        produce the required hydrogen for steps c), e) and f).

In one embodiment a portion of the atmospheric residue stream from stepa) is sent directly into the solvent deasphalter of step d) along withthe straight run vacuum residue streams.

In another embodiment between 0% and 80% percent of the straight runvacuum residue stream from step b) bypasses said first ebullated-bedreactor system in step c) and is sent directly to the solventdeasphalting unit in step d).

In still another embodiment a portion of the distillate stream andvacuum gas oil streams from step e) are not included in the syntheticcrude oil product.

In another embodiment a portion of the unconverted deasphalted oilstream from step e) is utilized in the synthetic crude oil of step g).

In one embodiment, the straight run distillates and vacuum gas oil fromsteps a) and b) and the conversion distillates and VGO from step c) canbe blended directly into the SCO product if a lower quality SCO productis desired.

In another embodiment, the gasification complex in step h) can producepower for internal or external usage, or can produce a synthetic gas.

Butanes which are created by the first ebullated-bed reactor system, thesecond ebullated-bed reactor system, or the series of hydrotreatment andhydrocracking reactors, can be blended in step h) at greater than onevolume percent with said hydrotreated C₅ ⁺ product from step f), saiddistillate stream and said vacuum gas oil stream from step e) to createa synthetic crude oil.

The heavy oil or bitumen feedstream has the following properties: APIgravity less than 15°, sulfur content greater than 3 W % and vacuumresidue content greater than 35%.

In an embodiment, a portion of the atmospheric residue stream bypassesthe vacuum still and can be fed to the ebullated-bed unit along with thevacuum residue stream. Additionally, in a preferred embodiment theebullated-bed reactor operates at the following range of conditions:reactor total pressure of 1,500 to 3,000 psia, reactor temperature of750 to 850° F., hydrogen feedrate of 1,500 to 10,000 SCF/Bbl, liquidhourly space velocity of 0.1 to 1.5 hr⁻¹, and a daily catalystreplacement rate of 0.1 to 1.0 lb/Bbl of feedstock.

Generally such hydroprocessing is in the presence of catalyst containinggroup VI or VIII metals such as platinum, molybdenum, tungsten, nickel,cobalt, etc., in combination with various other metallic elementparticles of alumina, silica, magnesia and so forth having a highsurface to volume ratio. More specifically, catalyst utilized forhydrodemetallation, hydrodesulfurization, hydrodenitrification,hydrocracking etc., of heavy oils and the like are generally made up ofa carrier or base material; such as alumina, silica, silicaalumina, orpossibly, crystalline aluminosilicate, with one more promoter(s) orcatalytically active metal(s) (or compound(s)) plus trace materials.Typical catalytically active metals utilized are cobalt, molybdenum,nickel and tungsten; however, other metals or compounds could beselected dependent on the application. The ebullated-bed reactor systemmaybe comprised of one, two or three stages in series and mayincorporate phase separation between the reactor stages to offload thegas from the first stage reactor.

The SDA unit may be operated with a C₃/C₄/C₅ solvent to obtain a highDAO yield. The solvent deasphalting conditions include a temperaturefrom about 50° F. (10° C.) to about 600° F. (315° C.) or higher, but thedeasphalter operation is preferably performed within the temperaturerange of 100° F. (38° C.) to 400° F. (204° C.). The pressures utilizedin the solvent deasphalter are preferably sufficient to maintain liquidphase conditions. A broad range of pressures from about 100 psig (689kPag) to 1,000 psig (6,900 kPag) are generally suitable with a preferredrange being from about 200 psig (1,380 kPag) to 600 psig (4,140 kPag).

In the process according to the invention, the conversion percentage ofthe feedstream processed in the first ebullated-bed reactor hydrocarbonfeedstream can be greater than 50% wt, and may even be greater than 60%wt. In the second ebullated-bed reactor system, the conversionpercentage of the feedstream processed is preferably greater than 70% wtand more preferably greater than 75% wt.

Additionally, in the process according to the invention, the overallvolumetric synthetic crude oil yield rate as a fraction of heavy oil orbitumen but not including diluents feedrate is greater than 90% and canbe greater than 95%. Moreover, the residue conversion percentage in stepc) is greater than 50% wt., preferably greater than 60% wt. Thedeasphalted oil conversion on a vacuum residue basis in step e) isgreater than 70% wt and may even be greater than 80% wt. or 90% wt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic flowsheet of the high conversion upgrading processof heavy oil or bitumen feedstock.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The heavy oil or bitumen stream 10 enters the plant battery limits.Typically, this stream has API gravity less than 15° and requires 10-40%light diluent to transport from the field to the processing complex. Theheavy oil or bitumen feedstream 10 is first processed through a crudeatmospheric fractionator 12 to create an atmospheric residue stream 14nominally boiling above 650° F. and straight run atmospheric gas oil(AGO) stream 15 and a diluent stream 11 which is returned to the field.

The atmospheric residue stream 14 from the crude atmosphericfractionator 12 is thereafter sent to a vacuum fractionator 16 to createa vacuum residue stream 18 nominally boiling above 975° F. and astraight run vacuum gas oil (VGO) stream 20 boiling between 650 and 975°F. Although not shown in the drawing, depending upon the plant capacityand/or economics, it is possible that a portion of the atmosphericresidue stream 14 can bypass the vacuum fractionators 16 and be feddirectly to the solvent deasphalter 25. The straight run VGO stream 20and the straight run AGO stream 15, are thereafter routed to traditionalfixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocracking units 30. These secondaryhydroprocessing units typically operate at moderate temperature andpressure and create a distillate plus VGO stream 32 which will be stableand contain acceptable level of sulfur, nitrogen and aromatics. Althoughnot shown in FIG. 1, depending upon the desired quality of the final SCOproduct, it is possible to route the straight run VGO stream 20 and thestraight run AGO stream 15 directly into the SCO product 36 and bypassthe fixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocracking units 30.

A portion of the vacuum residue stream 18 is thereafter sent to a firstebullated-bed reactor system 19 to create a distillateNGO product stream21 and an unconverted vacuum residue stream 22. The residue conversionpercentage in this first ebullated-bed reactor system 19 is generallygreater than 50% wt. The distillate NGO product stream 21 is thereafterrouted along with the straight run VGO stream 20 and the straight runAGO stream 15 to traditional fixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocrackingunits 30, although it is possible to blend the distillate/VGO productstream 21 directly into the SCO product 36 and bypass the traditionalfixed-bed hydrotreating and hydrocracking units 30 depending upon thedesired quality of the SCO product.

The unconverted vacuum residue stream 22 is combined with the portion ofthe crude still vacuum residue stream 18 that was not sent to the firstebullated-bed reactor 19, shown in this schematic as 18 a, and sent to asolvent deasphalting unit 25 where it is separated into deasphalted oil(“DAO”) stream 28 and an asphaltene stream 26. Generally, the portion ofthe crude still vacuum residue stream not sent to the firstebullated-bed reactor 18 a is between 0 and 80%.

The solvent utilized in the SDA unit 25 may be any suitablehydrocarbonaceous material which is a liquid within suitable temperatureand pressure ranges for operation of the countercurrent contactingcolumn, is less dense than the feed streams 18 a, 22, and has theability to readily and selectively dissolve desired components of thefeed streams 18 a, 22 and reject the asphaltic materials also commonlyknown as pitch or asphaltenes. The solvent may be a mixture of a largenumber of different hydrocarbons having from 3 to 14 carbon atoms permolecule, such as light naphtha having an end boiling point below about200° F. (93° C.).

Preferably, the SDA unit 25 is operated with a C₃/C₄/C₅ solvent toobtain a high DAO yield such that the DAO can be treated in a classicfixed-bed reactor or in an ebullated-bed unit. More specifically, thesolvent may be a relatively light hydrocarbon such as ethane, propane,butane, isobutane, pentane, isopentane, hexane, heptane, thecorresponding mono-olefinic hydrocarbons or mixtures thereof.Preferably, the solvent is comprised of paraffinic hydrocarbons havingfrom 3 to 7 carbon atoms per molecule and can be a mixture of 2 or morehydrocarbons. For instance, a preferred solvent may be comprised of a 50volume percent mixture of normal butane and isopentane.

The solvent deasphalting conditions include a temperature from about 50°F. (10° C.) to about 600° F. (315° C.) or higher, but the solventdeasphalter 25 operation is preferably performed within the temperaturerange of 100° F. (38° C.)-400° F. (204° C.). The pressures utilized inthe solvent deasphalter 25 are preferably sufficient to maintain liquidphase conditions, with no advantage being apparent to the use ofelevated pressures which greatly exceed this minimum. A broad range ofpressures from about 100 psig (690 kPag) to 1,000 psig (6,900 kPag) aregenerally suitable with a preferred range being from about 200 psig(1,380 kPag) to 600 psig (4,140 kPag). In the SDA Unit, an excess ofsolvent to charge stock should preferably be maintained. The solvent tocharge stock volumetric ratio should preferably be between 2:1 to 20:1and preferably from about 3:1 to 9:1. The preferred residence time ofthe charge stock in the solvent deasphalter 11 is from about 10 to about60 minutes.

The asphaltene stream 26 from the solvent deasphalter unit 25 is sent toa gasification complex 27 where it produces hydrogen stream 29 that isrequired for the for the two ebullated-bed reactor systems 19 & 31 andfor the hydrotreating/hydrocracking units 30. The gasification complexincludes the gasification reactors, gas clean-up, shift reactors, carbondioxide separation and recovery, hydrogen purification and airseparation plants. Moreover, depending upon the plant economics and/orrequirements, the gasification complex can optionally produce powerand/or medium BTU syngas for the upgrader and upstream resourcerecovery.

The DAO stream 28 from the solvent deasphalting reactor unit 25 isthereafter sent to a second ebullated-bed reactor system 31 forhydroconversion. The hydrogen required for this second ebullated-bedreactor 31 is also obtained from the hydrogen stream 29 created by thegasification complex 27.

The second ebullated-bed reactor system 31 is a high conversionebullated-bed hydroconversion unit. The DAO stream 28 is catalyticallyhydrocracked and hydrotreated in the ebullated-bed reactor 31 system andconverts greater than 70% of the DAO feedstream 28 and creates adistillate plus VGO stream 34. Stream 34 is thereafter combined with thehydrotreated distillates and VGO stream 32 from the fixed-bedhydrotreater and hydrocracking reactors 30 to create the final SCOproduct 36. Although not shown in FIG. 1, it is possible that a portionof the distillate plus VGO stream 34 would not be included in the finalSCO product 36 and would instead be sold as product. Unconverted DAO 35from the second ebullated-bed reactor system 31 may be routed to thegasification complex 27 or may be utilized in the final synthetic crudeoil product blend. Although not shown in FIG. 1, butanes may also beadded to the final SCO product 36 at typical contents of greater than 1volume percent depending upon the desired product quality. The butanesare typically created from a gas recovery plant (not shown in FIG. 1)which processes the light product gas streams from the firstebullated-bed reactor system 19, the fixed-bed hydrotreater andhydrocracking reactors 30, and the second ebullated-bed reactor system31.

This invention will be further described by the following example, whichshould not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

EXAMPLE 1

A flowrate of 300,000 BPSD of bitumen is processed in the example. Therate does not include the light diluent which is used to transport thecrude from the field. The bitumen is fed to an atmospheric still whichproduces the light diluent (returned to the field), 43,400 BPSD ofstraight run atmospheric gas oil (SRAGO), and 256,600 BPSD ofatmospheric residue. The atmospheric residue is sent to the vacuumfractionator to produce a vacuum residue stream (167,500 BPSD) alongwith 89,100 BPSD straight run vacuum gas oil (SRVGO) stream. The SRAGOand SRVGO are routed to traditional fixed-bed hydrotreating andhydrocracking units, respectively. These values and other flowrates areshown in Table 1.

The vacuum residue stream from the vacuum fractionator is split betweenan ebullated-bed hydroconversion unit and a solvent deasphalting unit.The split is determined by attaining a hydrogen-balanced plant. In thisexample, of the total 167,500 BPSD of straight run vacuum residue,134,000 BPSD is routed to the first ebullated-bed reactor system and33,500 BPSD is routed to the SDA Unit.

The feedrate to the vacuum residue ebullated-bed unit is 134,000 BPSDand is the maximum rate for a specified maximum reactor size. Thisreactor size is normally limited by either fabrication or transportationconstraints. In a pre-invention processing configuration, the totalheavy crude rate would be that equivalent to the 134,000 BPSD of vacuumresidue or 240,000 BPSD. The invention results in the processing of anadditional 60,000 BPSD of heavy crude (300,000 versus 240,000 BPSD). Thevacuum residue ebullated-bed operates at a residue conversion level nearthe maximum desired for the particular feedstock. The ebullated-beddistillate and VGO products require additional treatment and are sent tosecondary hydrotreating/hydrocracking units. As shown in Table 1, thefirst ebullated-bed unit produces 54,700 BPSD of naphtha/diesel and36,900 BPSD of VGO. The unconverted ebullated-bed vacuum residue (46,900BPSD) is sent, along with the remaining straight run vacuum residue(33,500 BPSD), to a solvent deasphalting (SDA) Unit.

The total SDA Unit feedrate is 80,400 BPSD. The feed is straight runvacuum residue (33,5.00 BPSD) and unconverted vacuum residue from theebullated-bed unit (46,900 BPSD). Typically a butane or pentane solventis utilized in the SDA Unit to produce deasphalted oil (DAO) and anasphaltene stream. In this example, the SDA Unit produces 55,000 BPSD ofDAO and 25,400 BPSD of asphaltenes. The DAO, which contains significantlevels of CCR and metals could be blended into the SCO product but wouldresult in a significant decrease in the SCO quality and resultant value.Instead, in the disclosed invention, the DAO is processed in a secondebullated-bed unit.

The second ebullated-bed reactor operates at high severity and convertsover 85 percent of the DAO into distillates and VGO. The resultantnaphtha/diesel (32,800 BPSD) and VGO (18,700 BPSD) from this secondebullated-bed reactor system are sufficiently hydrogenated that they canbe directly blended in the final SCO product. The unconverted DAOproduct is 7,700 BPSD. This small quantity of unconverted DAO is routedto the gasification unit. Alternatively this small quantity ofhydrogenated DAO could be added to the SCO product if the small decreasein SCO quality/value would indicate favorable plant economics.

The gasification plant is fed the SDA asphaltenes (25,400 BPSD) and theunconverted DAO (7,700 BPSD) from the second ebullated-bed reactor unit.This gasification complex produces 509 MMSCFD of hydrogen, which isthat, required for the first and second ebullated-bed units and thefixed-bed hydrotreating/hydrocracking units. The gasification plant inthis example does not produce any excess syngas, which could be utilizedto produce power for the upgrading facilities. This could be included inthe gasification design and would impact the vacuum residue split, SDAsolvent utilized and SCO yield.

Table 2 shows the components of the final SCO blend and importantinspections. The SCO is comprised of the hydrotreating/hydrocrackingeffluents, the second ebullated-bed C₅-975° F. effluent and butanes at 1V %. The SCO rate is 286,900 kBPSD with 33.2° API gravity and less than0.1 W % sulfur. The SCO contains a high percentage of desirablemid-distillate boiling material (43.1 V %) and no material boilinggreater than 975° F. The SCO liquid yield as a percentage of the cruderate is 95.6 V %. This is a high value when considering that a portionof the heavy crude/bitumen is utilized to produce the required hydrogen.

The maximization of crude and SCO rates for a maximum size primaryupgrading unit (ebullated-bed) is a key element of the invention. For atypical process configuration (pre-invention), all of the straight runvacuum residue would be processed in the vacuum residue ebullated-bedand the feedstock throughput would be significantly limited. Thepre-invention SCO yield would be approximately 90 V % versus the nearly96 V % yield for the invention example.

TABLE 1 Summary of Flowrates Stream Flowrate, kBPSD Crude Oil toAtmospheric Still 300.0 Straight Run AGO to Hydrotreating 43.4Atmospheric Residue to Vacuum Still 256.6 Straight Run VGO toHydrocracking 89.1 Total Vacuum Residue 167.5 Vacuum Residue to SDA Unit33.5 Vacuum Residue to First Ebullated-Bed Unit 134.0 FirstEbullated-Bed Unit Products Naphtha/Diesel to Hydrotreating 54.7 VGO toHydrocracking 36.9 Unconverted Residue to SDA Unit 46.9 Total SDA Feed80.4 SDA DAO to 2^(nd) Ebullated-Bed Unit 55.0 SDA Asphaltenes toGasification 25.4 Second Ebullated-Bed Unit Products Naphtha/Diesel toSCO 32.8 VGO to SCO 18.7 Unconverted DAO to Gasification 7.7Gasification Total Feed 33.0

TABLE 2 SCO Yield Units Value Naphtha/Diesel Hydrotreater Effluent (C₅⁺) kBPSD 140.7 VGO Hydrocracker Effluent (C₅ ⁺) kBPSD 91.9 SecondEbullated-Bed Effluent (C₅-975° F.) kBPSD 51.5 Total HydrogenRequirement MMSCFD 509 Total SCO Including 1 V % Butanes kBPSD 286.9Yield on Crude V % 95.6 SCO Gravity ° API 33.2 SCO Sulfur Wppm 600 SCODistillation C₄-350° F. V % 18.3 350-650° F. V % 43.1 650-975° F. V %38.6

The invention described herein has been disclosed in terms of specificembodiments and applications. However, these details are not meant to belimiting and other embodiments, in light of this teaching, would beobvious to persons skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is to beunderstood that the drawings and descriptions are illustrative of theprinciples of the invention, and should not be construed to limit thescope thereof.

1. A process for converting high percentages of heavy oil or bitumenfeedstocks and producing a high yield of SCO comprising: a) feeding abitumen or heavy oil feedstock to a crude still passing to provide alight diluent, a straight run atmospheric residue stream and a straightrun atmospheric gas oil stream; and b) feeding said straight runatmospheric residue stream to a vacuum still to create a straight runvacuum residue stream and a straight run vacuum gas oil stream; and c)feeding a portion of the straight run vacuum residue stream and ahydrogen stream to a first ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocrackthe vacuum residue and create an unconverted residue stream and adistillate and vacuum gas oil stream; and d) feeding said unconvertedvacuum residue stream and the straight run vacuum residue that was notprocessed in said first ebullated-bed reactor system to a C₃ or heaviersolvent deasphalting unit to create a deasphalted oil stream and anasphaltene stream; and e) feeding said deasphalted oil stream and ahydrogen stream to a second ebullated-bed reactor system to hydrocrackthe deasphalted oil and create a distillate stream, a vacuum gas oilstream, and an unconverted deasphalted oil stream; and f) feeding saiddistillate and vacuum gas oil stream from said first ebullated-bedreactor system from step d), along with said straight run vacuum gas oilstream and said straight run atmospheric gas oil stream and a hydrogenstream to a series of hydrotreatment and hydrocracking reactors tocreate a hydrotreated C₅ ⁺ product; and g) blending said hydrotreated C₅⁺ product from step f), said distillate stream and said vacuum gas oilstream from step e) to create a synthetic crude oil: and h) feeding saidasphaltene stream from step d) plus said unconverted DAO stream fromstep e) to a gasification complex to produce the required hydrogen forsteps c), e) and f).
 2. The process of claim 1 wherein the overallvolumetric synthetic crude oil yield rate as a fraction of heavy oil orbitumen but not including diluent feedrate is greater than 90%.
 3. Theprocess of claim 1 wherein the overall volumetric synthetic crude oilyield rate as a fraction of heavy oil or bitumen but not includingdiluent feedrate is greater than 95%.
 4. The process of claim 1 whereinthe residue conversion percentage in step c) is greater than 50% wt. 5.The process of claim 1 wherein the residue conversion percentage in stepc) is greater than 60% wt.
 6. The process of claim 1 wherein thedeasphalted oil conversion on a vacuum residue basis in step e) isgreater than 70% wt.
 7. The process of claim 1 wherein the deasphaltedoil conversion on a vacuum residue basis in step e) is greater than 80%wt
 8. The process of claim 1 wherein the deasphalted oil conversion on avacuum residue basis in step e) is greater than 90% wt
 9. The process ofclaim 1 wherein the heavy oil or bitumen feedstock has API gravity lessthan 15°.
 10. The process of claim 1 wherein a portion of theatmospheric residue stream from step a) bypasses step b) and isthereafter fed into the solvent deasphalter of step d) along with thesaid straight run vacuum residue streams.
 11. The process of claim 1wherein between 0 and 80 percent of said straight run vacuum residuestream from step b) bypasses said first ebullated-bed reactor system instep c) and is sent directly to the solvent deasphalting unit in stepd).
 12. The process of claim 1 wherein a portion of said distillatestream from step e) is not included in the synthetic crude oil product.13. The process of claim 1 wherein a portion of the vacuum gas oilstream from step e) is not included in the synthetic crude oil product.14. The process of claim 1 wherein the unconverted deasphalted oilstream from step e) is included in the synthetic crude oil of step g).15. The process of claim 1 wherein the gasification complex in step h)also provides power for internal usage or is exported.
 16. The processof claim 1 wherein the gasification complex in step h) produces asynthetic gas which can thereafter be utilized to generate steam forupstream oil production.
 17. The process of claim 1 wherein the straightrun distillates and vacuum gas from step a and b) and the conversiondistillates and VGO from step c) are blended directly into the SCOproduct and are not processed in step f).
 18. The process of claim 1wherein butanes which are created by the first ebullated-bed reactorsystem, the second ebullated-bed reactor system, or the series ofhydrotreatment and hydrocracking reactors are blended in step h) atgreater than one volume percent with said hydrotreated C₅ ⁺ product fromstep f), said distillate stream and said vacuum gas oil stream from stepe) to create a synthetic crude oil.